Trafficking

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service on September 25 intercepted 60 bear
gallbladders that were hidden among a ton
of reindeer antlers arriving from Russia at
the Anchorage International Airport.
Hong Kong customs officers on
October 4 seized 1,500 dried dog penises,
airmailed from Thailand labeled “Chinese
medicine.” To be sold as a tonic to boost
male sexual performance, the penises were
valued at 87¢ each.
British Columbia on October 17
laid 29 charges of smuggling bear gallbladders
against 11 individuals and businesses as
result of a July raid on several stores in
Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Arrested on September 6 at the
Los Angeles International Airport,
accused Chinese wildlife parts traffickers
Zhongri Gao, 36, Yongzhe Jin, 34,
Xianglu Jin, 35, and Songyue Li, 35, are
to go to trial November 28 in Los Angeles.
They pleaded innocent on October 2 to
charges of illegally importing bear bile,
blear gall bladders, rhino horn, and tiger
bone products into the U.S. Xianglu Jin was
allegedly caught with 57 vials of dried bear
bile, labeled as ginseng.
Human Rights Watch charged on
October 5 that environmental researchers
Nadira Kidoyatova, 27, and Asya
Turaniyazova, 35, were arrested on July 11
in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on suspicion of
trying to export “cattle skins,” and were
forced to have abortions because Uzbek law
doesn’t permit the detention of pregnant
women while awaiting trial. Kidoyatowa
was said to be three months pregnant while
Turaniyazova was purportedly six months
pregnant. Khidoyatova is niece of former
Uzbek ambassador to the U.S. Bobur
Malikov, a leading opponent in exile of current
head of state Islam Karimov.